41st Annual Premiers’ Conference

WINNIPEG, AUGUST 11, 2000 --Premiers, except the Premier of Québec¹, reviewed, endorsed and released the fifth annual Progress Report to Premiers prepared by the Provincial/Territorial Council on Social Policy Renewal. The Report provides an update on the Council's social policy renewal activities since the 1999 Annual Premiers' Conference, including the implementation of the Social Union Framework Agreement, next steps on the National Children's Agenda, and the activities of the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Council on Social Policy Renewal and National Aboriginal Leaders. The Report also includes status reports on the National Child Benefit, Benefits and Services for Persons with Disabilities, Health, Labour Market, Education, Aboriginal Affairs, Status of Women, Housing and Finance and Fiscal issues. Premiers endorsed the Provincial/Territorial Council's recommendations on social policy priorities and approaches and agreed to release the report publicly.

Premiers reiterated the consensus reached at last year's Annual Premiers' Conference that calls for the full and immediate restoration of the Canada Health and Social Transfer plus the adoption of an appropriate escalator as a critical federal contribution toward sustaining existing social programs in Canada. Premiers emphasized that any new Canada-wide social programs must respect the commitments of the Social Union Framework Agreement, including the principle to ensure adequate, affordable, stable and sustainable funding.

Premiers reaffirmed their desire for an effective Social Union Framework Agreement that will improve and strengthen social policy and programs for Canadians. They acknowledged and supported the collaborative work that is proceeding on implementing the Agreement. They noted that all jurisdictions have reported to the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Council on their ongoing efforts to eliminate unreasonable residency-based barriers to mobility by 2002. Premiers also pointed out that their governments are working to enhance accountability to Canadians by developing and refining their own methods for monitoring and measuring their social programs.

Premiers strongly believe that a mechanism to prevent and resolve disputes between governments is essential to a strong federal-provincial/territorial partnership. They noted with concern the federal government's unwillingness to work collaboratively with the Provincial/Territorial Council on this important implementation issue.

The Provincial/Territorial Council on Social Policy Renewal has developed a discussion paper, which recommends an innovative, practical three-step approach to resolving intergovernmental disputes. Premiers believe that the mechanism will improve transparency and ensure fairness in the resolution of any intergovernmental dispute in social policy areas, and they agreed unanimously to release the dispute settlement paper and to recommend it for use by social policy sectors. They urged the federal government to consider the Provincial/Territorial paper on dispute avoidance and resolution as a useful mechanism for preventing and resolving intergovernmental disputes.

Premiers were pleased that in follow-up to the March 1999 meeting they had with the National Aboriginal Leaders, the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Council has undertaken a collaborative process to engage Aboriginal people in the implementation of the Social Union Framework Agreement wherever such implementation has implications for Aboriginal people. They noted the importance of governments continuing to work together to achieve practical results to help address the pressing needs of Aboriginal people. Premiers indicated their strong support for the second Tripartite meeting of National Aboriginal leaders, Council Ministers and Ministers of Aboriginal Affairs in December 2000.

A FOCUS ON CHILDREN

Premiers acknowledged the positive collaboration among Federal/Provincial/Territorial governments that resulted in the release of the Public Report: Public Dialogue on the National Children's Agenda. The vision, values and goals contained in the Report were confirmed by a series of public consultations. Premiers recognized the important contribution made by Aboriginal organizations to the dialogue process and stressed the importance of continued Aboriginal involvement to ensure that the needs of Aboriginal children are a priority as work on the National Children's Agenda proceeds.

Premiers were pleased that the Public Report acknowledges the leadership shown by provinces and territories to address children's issues. They expressed their support for the next steps on the National Children's Agenda, which include improving the economic security of families through the National Child Benefit and exploring opportunities for collaboration on early childhood development.

Premiers reaffirmed the priority that all provinces and territories place on addressing the issues of child poverty and the work force attachment of parents through the National Child Benefit. They endorsed the continued work of Ministers Responsible for Social Services toward the implementation of the series of National Child Benefit increases scheduled to 2004.

Premiers called for provincial-territorial Social Services Ministers to provide:

   
• an assessment of child poverty trends in Canada;
   
• an assessment of the impact of the National Child Benefit in meeting its objectives of reducing child poverty, promoting workforce attachment and independence of low-income families and reducing overlap and duplication between governments; and
   
• recommendations on further National Child Benefit investments to achieve full implementation.

Premiers indicated that they expect to include the National Child Benefit in their discussions with the Prime Minister in September.

Premiers discussed the problem of child prostitution and expressed support for initiatives to protect vulnerable children. _________________________________
¹ While sharing essentially the same concerns, the Government of Québec does not intend to adhere to the federal-provincial/territorial approach or to the provincial/territorial approach to social policies. Furthermore, Québec did not sign the Social Union Framework Agreement. Consequently, any references to joint federal-provincial/territorial or provincial/territorial positions do not include the government of Québec. However, the Québec government supports the provincial/territorial position on the full restoration of CHST transfer payments as a top priority. Québec considers that this top priority should be met rather than launching any new Canada-wide programs.

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